Iata Chief Executive Willie Walsh has called for a change of leadership at Heathrow Airport, describing how the management has not met expectations after the pandemic as “unacceptable”.
Heathrow boss John Holland-Kaye should be fired if the airport sees a repeat of the disruption seen this year, Mr Walsh has suggested.
Speaking at the Airlines 2022 conference in Westminster, he noted that Dick Benschop, the boss of Amsterdam Schiphol airport, left the role in September amid huge criticism for major disruption.
”It’s largely Heathrow and Schiphol, and the CEO of Schiphol lost his job.
“So I think there’s a message there.
“There’s no excuse for it continuing. No excuse whatsoever.
“People ask me ‘are we going to face the same problems next year?’.
“If we do, heads should roll. Let’s be clear about it because there’s no excuse.” said Mr Walsh.
He also accused Heathrow of not registering true queuing times by stopping passengers before they had reached the first checkpoint and only recording waiting times once travellers reached security.
